Electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), sometimes referred to as an electric vehicle charging station, is used to charge plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs, such as electric battery powered vehicles, gasoline/electric battery powered vehicle hybrids) (PEV is sometimes referred herein as an electric vehicle (EV)). EVSEs may be located in designated charging locations (e.g., similar to locations of gas stations), adjacent to parking spaces, at residences, etc.
An EV operator may be associated with an account with a Charging Service Provider (CSP) that may have preferences and/or settings that are specific to the EV operator. Example preferences and/or settings include cost/pricing parameter(s) (e.g., the cost of power that the EV operator is willing to pay for electrical energy at various times throughout the week and/or for one or more types of charging service (workplace, public parking, home)), access credentials and/or roaming parameters for “home” and “foreign” CSPs; alerts and notification preferences (e.g., the type and frequency of alerts and notifications concerning a charging session that the driver wishes to receive), etc. These preferences and/or settings may be entered, viewed, and/or managed by the EV operator through a service portal (using a web browser and/or smartphone/tablet app) provided by the EV manufacturer and/or CSP.
PEV specific preferences can be set and/or managed through the PEV's in-cabin (dashboard) user interface. These PEV specific parameters are not EV operator-specific. Therefore, different EV operators with access to the same PEV (e.g., family members or users of a fleet of shared EVs), cannot practically use this method to set or choose different EV operator specific preferences.
Currently, data exchange between the PEV and the EVSE is limited to the parameters related to the embedded control of energy transfer and related safety provisions. Neither PEV-level nor PEV operator-specific parameters can be exchanged between the PEV and EVSE.